


(as close as) how close i wanna get

by zozo



Series: Here Comes the First Day [20]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Polyamory, Royal Administrivia, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25918768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zozo/pseuds/zozo
Summary: Angella and Micah join the Best Friends Squad for breakfast, and discuss a small administrative matter.
Relationships: Adora/Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra), Angella/Micah (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: Here Comes the First Day [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755943
Comments: 44
Kudos: 196
Collections: the corners of today





	(as close as) how close i wanna get

“I don’t understand why _you’re_ so calm,” Glimmer sulks to Catra. “Last week Adora said ‘We need to talk’ and you used Melog to turn invisible and fucked off for the next six hours! But my mom asks if she and my dad can join us for breakfast to ‘discuss some matters’ and _you’re_ the most relaxed?”

Catra is, indeed, the most relaxed one in the dining room. Glimmer’s on her feet pacing while Adora stands nearby, alternately wringing her hands and holding them stiffly at her sides. Bow isn’t as obviously agitated, but his arms are folded tightly across his chest. Catra’s the only one seated, and she has her feet up on the table while she sips from a tall glass of juice.

“I got up early and meditated this morning,” she says with an innocent smile.

It’s sure not received innocently. Glimmer groans and rolls her eyes with her entire upper body. Bow raises a skeptical eyebrow—by his standards, positively withering—and Adora coughs something into her fist that sounds suspiciously like “bullshit.”

“What?” Catra shrugs defensively, but she sounds more confident as she continues. “I’m… I’m trying a thing, okay? _If_ it’s something bad, I’ll have plenty of time to worry about it—once I know what to actually worry about. And if it’s not something bad, then I’m saving my energy for the good stuff.” She plucks a grape out of the bowl in front of her and pops it in her mouth. “It’s not rocket science,” she concludes with her mouth full.

Glimmer sighs, but it turns into a chuckle. “I can’t decide if you sound more like Perfuma or H0RDAC.”

Catra makes a face like one of the grapes was sour, but then she shrugs it off. “You mean like new H0RDAC, the guy in the computer? Huh.” She thinks about it for a second and shrugs again. “I can live with that.”

Then she eats another grape and winks at them. “Besides, you all might be in trouble, but the king and queen _love_ me. Maybe they want to talk about what a good example I’m setting for the rest of you.”

From where he’s leaning against the wall, Bow laughs and uncrosses his arms, standing up straight and shaking his head. “Okay, well, _that’s_ definitely not what’s going to happen, but I am a little less nervous now.”

Adora laughs too. “Yeah, maybe they actually want to congratulate us on putting up with her.” She winks back at Catra, who flicks a grape at her—Adora snatches it out of the air and tosses it in her mouth with a single quick motion; Catra blinks with surprise and blushes a little. She looks like she’s about to throw another when there’s a gentle knock on the dining room door and it slowly eases open.

“Good morning!” calls King Micah from behind the small cart he’s pushing. Queen Angella follows closely, carefully shutting the door behind them. Catra swings her feet off the table and sits up straight. Adora notices, and smiles, but Catra doesn’t see it.

Everyone exchanges greetings and hugs and then gets settled with their food. Adora pours tea for everyone, but when she goes to fill her plate, it’s already piled high with everything she normally eats in the morning. She has a brief moment of confusion, but then she sees that Catra’s only halfway through filling her own plate, and Adora smiles another private little smile.

There’s some polite early-morning small talk, but it’s not long before Angella gracefully sets down her teacup and gently clears her throat, drawing everyone’s attention in an instant.

“Thank you,” she says with a soft smile, “for allowing us to intrude on your breakfast.” She holds up a hand to forestall any protests. “We know the four of you reserve this time for yourselves. We’re so pleased to join you.”

“Aw, Mom,” Glimmer smiles bashfully. “That’s really sweet. It’s nice to have you here, both of you.” The other three nod their agreement.

Angella rests her hands flat on the table. “I simply wanted to take some time, in private, to discuss something the Chief Councillor raised with me. It was brought to her by Meris, actually, the Royal Archivist—Bow, I think your fathers know them—and, well…” The queen seems slightly awkward. “They have as much catching up to do as anyone, and—it’s a clerical matter more than anything, really…”

“Angie,” Micah interrupts gently, “you’re probably scaring them to death.”

“Ah,” she says, “of course, I’m so sorry. In brief: Glimmer, Meris has requested your consent to record Bow, Adora, and Catra as queen’s consorts in the royal archives. With, of course, your consent too,” she nods to the other three.

Four frozen faces stare back at her—none of them seem to want to look at each other, so they’re all doubling down on looking at Angella.

(Micah makes a small noise in the back of his throat that only Angella can hear. She knows it means _Here we go…_ )

Adora is the first one to speak. “Um, okay, I don’t… like, I’m pretty sure I understand what you mean from context, Your Majesty, but just to be clear—when you say ‘consort’…”

“It just means you’re in a relationship with her,” Micah says. “The title comes up on the odd ceremonial occasion.” He smiles warmly at all of them, with a self-deprecating quirk at the corner of his mouth. “If the Queen of Bright Moon shares her heart with you, I’m afraid that’s one for the history books. Not that you all haven’t found your own ways there already.”

Glimmer’s cheeks are bright pink now, and she’s not looking at anybody. Adora’s chewing her lower lip thoughtfully, and Bow looks similarly contemplative, though he’s also got a shy smile slowly growing on his face. Catra’s staring down at the table, but she doesn’t seem like she’s withdrawing—she’s scooted her chair a little closer to Glimmer’s, too.

“Maybe you were right,” Angella whispers to Micah—his idea for this conversation had been to approach each of them individually. But he shakes his head.

“I don’t know,” he whispers back, “I think they’re okay. They’re just processing.”

Adora seems to reach a conclusion in her head. “I want to hear what everyone else thinks, but… I’m okay with it.” The other three look at her for the first time since Angella raised the subject, and she shrugs. “I don’t… I mean, I hope this is okay—I don’t mind ‘girlfriend,’ I’ve got to call you two _something_ , after all—and I heard Mermista call Sea Hawk ‘partner’ and I kind of like that too, but… I mean, in my head? You’re always just ‘Catra’ and ‘Glimmer.’ That… that means more to me than anything ever could. So if we’re some other word in the official archives, that’s fine too. I know what you are to me.”

Adora feels like it’s such a simple, self-evident thing to say that she’s a little shocked to see Glimmer’s eyes full of tears. Bow’s, too—a tear has even escaped and is tracking down his cheek. At some point, she didn’t notice when, Angella and Micah started holding hands between them on the table. And Catra’s still staring down into her lap.

“Hey, Catra, you okay?” Adora asks softly, and Catra nods—without actually looking up at anyone—and even drags her chair another few inches in Glimmer’s direction, but she doesn’t say anything. Glimmer reaches over and rubs gently on the side of Catra’s leg with her knuckles for a couple second, and Catra gives a grateful little huff of acknowledgement.

“Ask Bow,” she says quietly. “Then come back to me.”

Bow is still casually brushing tears from his eyes, but he’s grinning while he does it. “I don’t mind one bit, not if Glimmer doesn’t. I’ll probably want to stick to ‘boyfriend’ for, you know, normal life, but if we’re talking about the historical record here… yeah.” He swipes at his right eye again, still smiling wide. “I definitely don’t hate the idea.”

“I don’t mind,” Glimmer says to him immediately, cheeks still bright pink. “I know you always wanted some kind of official royal label.” She smiles at Adora. “Bow used to get really sad when we were kids and he wasn’t a princess too.”

Bow sputters a little. “I wasn’t _sad_ , I just— _you_ were a princess! I liked you! I wanted to be like you! I was _six!_ ”

Adora lets out a little “awwww!” with her hands clasped over her heart, and Bow looks up at the ceiling in fond exasperation.

Glimmer looks back to her parents, smiling. “I don’t mind one bit,” she says again. Then she turns to her other side. “But I still want to hear what Catra thinks.”

Catra takes a long, deep breath. “I, uh… I don’t really know how all this royal stuff works,” she admits, and peeks over at Glimmer for a second. “And I mean… we _are_ in a relationship. So if they’re writing it down anyway, and that’s what it’s called… yeah. Yeah. I’m okay with that.” Another deep breath, and then she finally looks up at everyone, a small, shy smile on her lips. “I mean… we already _were_ pretty historical.”

Adora and Glimmer both cover their mouths at that, and everyone laughs at the simultaneous gesture. “ _Gods_ , you’re sweet,” says Adora, blowing her a kiss across the table, and Micah leans over to whisper to Angella again—Catra only hears the words “wedding toast,” and wishes she hadn’t.

“Thank you,” Angella says to them with a warm, fond smile, still holding Micah’s hand. “I’m sorry if it was awkward to ask without warning. If it makes you feel better, I’ve had similar conversations before, and they went rather less smoothly.” Micah snorts with laughter and seems like he’s about to say something, but he takes a sip of tea instead.

Adora and Catra have similar blank looks at that, but Bow looks deeply puzzled, as though he’s trying to remember whether he’s forgotten that Glimmer seriously dated someone before.

But as for Glimmer herself, there’s a look of horrified understanding slowly growing in her eyes, and when she speaks, it’s in a reluctant monotone, like the words are being forced out of her. “But wh-when did you…”

A brief flush of deep rose passes over Angella’s cheeks, and then she smiles a distant, serene smile. “A long time ago, but—well, speaking with only four of you seems rather simple after that.”

Bow’s still frowning thoughtfully, and Adora looks slightly lost, but Catra’s mismatched eyes are the first to go wide, followed shortly by Glimmer’s.

“Wait…” Glimmer says, “you weren’t—you didn’t—I’m… were _you_ —?!”

“It was a long time ago,” Angella says again, “but I once had—I suppose the word has certain connotations now, unfortunately, but ‘harem’ wasn’t always—”

Adora’s jaw drops. Bow’s eyebrows unfurrow and then some. Catra hiccups with delight, her suspicions clearly confirmed—and Glimmer makes a strangled choking sound that might just have been the word “ _harem?!_ ” in mortified shock.

Micah takes another sip of his tea. He’s got Glimmer’s mischievous dimples, too. “I love hearing about your harems, honey.” Angella laughs and touches his arm fondly as he notices Adora slowly shaking her head, slightly dumbfounded at his reaction.

“What?” He lifts an amused eyebrow at her. “I’m 50—she’s 1,000. I know she’s been with other people.”

Angella laughs again. “It was a _very_ long time ago. Etheria was a much different place—a different society, with different customs, different expectations. But yes, back then I had a modest—well, perhaps slightly more than modest—harem, as befitting my station.”

Bow chuckles, having apparently absorbed the idea. Catra’s nearly bouncing in her seat, gazing at Angella with something very much like awe, and Adora seems to have come around to a slightly impressed smile of her own. Glimmer’s face is buried entirely in her hands.

“I literally want to die right now,” she says to no one in particular. “Put _that_ in the archives: ‘R.I.P. Queen Glimmer, died of spontaneous _combustion_ from having the most embarrassing parents in the _world_.’”

It sounds more like the old Glimmer than anything else she’s said in front of her mother, let alone _to_ her, since Angella’s return, and it’s probably for the best she doesn’t see the wry smile her parents share. Bow comes to stand behind her chair and rests his hands on her shoulders, leaning down to kiss the back of her head.

“If you think _this_ is embarrassing,” he says, clearly suppressing a laugh, “you need to spend more time around George and Lance. Or maybe you don’t—not until I have a chance to hide all my baby pictures again.”

That cracks Adora up, but Catra’s still entirely focused on Queen Angella, and she seems to have worked up the nerve to ask something. “So what’s the _minimum_ number of people in a ‘harem,’ anyway, like how many…”

Angella takes a sip of her own tea, face carefully neutral. It’s Glimmer who responds first, with something between a groan and a scream, directly into the palms of her hands. She stands up, nearly colliding with Bow, and storms out of the room without another word. Bow, Adora, and Catra—the queen’s consorts, collectively—burst out laughing, once they’re sure Glimmer’s safely out of earshot, and then Bow heads out the door after her, still grinning.

Catra catches Adora’s eye across the table again and winks. “Told you it wasn’t something bad,” she says, and tosses another grape.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, friends! I wouldn’t say I’ve _quite_ returned from hiatus—this was outlined and half-drafted when I stepped away, so it was quick to finish—but I’ve been gone long enough to start missing these characters, and it was nice to spend some time with them and stretch the ol’ fanfic muscles again.
> 
> I’ve been making all kinds of notes for when I do find the time and energy to sit down and write more new stories—it’ll be more of a sprint than a marathon, this time, but it’s also likely to be sooner than later. :D
> 
> It’s good to be even a little bit back. <3 Stay tuned!


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